ARC Book Review: 3:59 – Gretchen McNeil

Josie Byrne’s life is spiraling out of control.
Her parents are divorcing, her boyfriend, Nick, has grown distant, and her physics teacher has it in for her. When she’s betrayed by the two people she trusts most, Josie thinks things can’t get worse. Until she starts having dreams about a girl named Jo. Every night at the same time – 3:59 a.m.
Jo’s life is everything Josie wants: she’s popular, her parents are happily married, and Nick adores her. It all seems real, but they’re just dreams, right? Josie thinks so, until she wakes one night to a shadowy image of herself in the bedroom mirror – Jo.
Josie and Jo realize that they are doppelgängers living in parallel universes that overlap every twelve hours at exactly 3:59. Fascinated by Jo’s fabulous life, Josie jumps at the chance to cross through the portal and switch places for a day. But Jo’s world is far from perfect. Not only is Nick not Jo’s boyfriend, he hates her. Jo’s mom is missing, possibly insane. And at night, shadowy creatures feed on human flesh.
Josie is desperate to return to her own life. But there’s a problem: Jo has sealed the portal, trapping Josie in this dangerous world. Can she figure out a way home before it’s too late?
From master of suspense Gretchen McNeil comes a riveting and deliciously eerie story about the lives we wish we had – and how they just might kill you.

First Sentence: Josie crouched behind the photon laser module and aligned it with the beam splitter at the other end of the lab table.

I received a copy of the book from the publisher in exchange for a honest review. All opinions are my own and I was not compensated for this review.

My Review:

I’ll be honest – when I first got my hands on Gretchen McNeil’s Ten, I was automatically expecting to hate it. I’m really picky with all the horror and thriller books I read and like I said in my review of Ten, the book cover of Ten just looks like it was trying a little too hard. Who would have known that I would have loved Ten when I read it? When I heard that Gretchen McNeil was writing another book, this time called 3:59 (what an interesting title, don’t you think?), I automatically knew that I had to get my hands on the book asap, hoping that I’ll love it as much (or maybe even more) than I loved Ten. The cover this time was also completely gorgeous, although most of the cover is black. To my minor disappointment, I did enjoy reading 3:59, but not as much as I have enjoyed reading Ten.

Science may not be able to prove it, but there are moments when time actually slows down. (ARC 323)

The main character, Josie, is smart. At least science smart. Josie kept blabbing some pro-sounding scientific stuff that even I, a college student studying chemistry, can’t understand. I mean, what on Earth is an “ultradense deuterium?” (After thinking about it for five minutes, I might have a little clue on what it is.) Josie, a person who attends high school, even knows what a doppelgänger is. (The only reason I know what doppelgänger means is because I’m bookish and read a lot about them in books.) However, for all of Josie’s science smarts, she isn’t smart…life-wise. I was always one step ahead of her – I predicted and knew who the bad guy was before she did. I also figured everything out steps before Josie did.

Despite Josie’s lack of logical smarts, I did admire her because she was very brave…if not also foolish. If I was in her situation, I’ll be very scared and be wary of everything happening. Josie literally jumped into everything headfirst, not doing tons of research or anything like that to prepare herself.

So far, Gretchen McNeil’s Ten and 3:59 have two common themes going on: Both the book titles are named after number(s) and both the main characters in her books have really, really awful so-called best “friends.” Minnie, the main character’s best friend from Ten, and Madison, Josie’s best friend, would be perfect for one another. Madison was just so awful in 3:59. I can’t tell you what she did or else you’ll be somewhat spoiled, but know this: you definitely won’t want her as a best friend.

She was desperate to know, even though she kept trying to remind herself that it didn’t matter. That her attraction this Nick could never amount to anything. (ARC 219)

3:59 made me feel the widest range of emotions from feeling heartbroken to feeling very, very angry. I swear, I’ve threatened most of the characters I didn’t like at least three times in my head while I was reading the book. In fact, you’ll be scared to see the long rant I wrote in my notebook. Gretchen McNeil has the special talent to play with my emotions and I like it.

The biggest problem I had with 3:59 is that it had the worse case of insta-love ever. It’s a bit confusing in a way – Josie and her boyfriend Nick are “distant” (that’s the word the summary provided, so I’m sticking with it), so she switches places with Jo, thinking that Jo and Nick are together in Jo’s universe. It turns out that Nick actually hates Jo in Jo’s universe, who is now Josie, so Josie tries to win him over. To make a long story short, Josie and that Nick fall in love…in like, a week? A week and a half? (It’s definitely a week and a half, tops.) Like, deep, I can’t live without you love. I mean, one of them were willing to give up their world just to be with the other person. After knowing the other person for, like, a week. Like, what? It doesn’t make it any better that Josie realizes that her relationship with Nick is ridiculous and unhealthy, but loves him anyway.

Not only did she barely know him, but the majority of their time together had been spent actively trying to return Josie to her own world. Not exactly the foundations of a long, healthy relationship. (ARC 297)

Don’t let the summary of 3:59 fool you. 3:59 doesn’t only focus on doppelgängers; it also focuses on a bit of high school drama, a romance, scientific stuff (as you can probably tell from the first sentence alone), and a race to save the world, or, at least, a race to save Josie’s universe. Will I recommend 3:59 to anyone? Sure, if you’re in the mood to feel happy one moment and angry the next.

Speak Your Mind

A book that promises one thing and delivers another thing, I don’t like that :( And haha, I’m into scientific stuff, but I have no idea what that means. It’s strange that there are no explanations. And one of the worst insta-love ever? Wow.Mel@thedailyprophecy recently posted…Review 198. Gail Carriger – Blameless.

Yeah. It’s sad when books are like that. D:
I think the scientific terms Gretchen McNeil used would be too complicated to explain. At least it sounds like it would be. When Josie and her friend was talking about the scientific things they had to figure out, I was just confused because I didn’t know what on Earth they were talking about.
Not only is the insta-love painful to read about; it’s almost very unhealthy because Josie could miss up her feelings for both of the Nicks without her realizing it.Kelly recently posted…Banned Books Week Giveaway Hop

II agree, the name is so intriguing. I wish you had given it a more stellar review because it sounds like it should be amazing. Like you, I also hate insta-luv. It’s enough to spoil any book.
cheers
Gwynnhttp://gwynnethwhite.blogspot.co.uk/

I agree that the summery does not quite do the book justice of what goes on and also found it odd/annoying that Josie always shrugged when something bad happened to her or accepted the truth that she was stuck and went, as you put it, ‘headfirst’ into situations without thinking them through. That seemed out of character, but there was much to like about this book!

I don’t really dislike the book as you can see from my rating – 3:59 was an okay read. There were parts that I loved (the non-stop action for one) and other parts that I couldn’t really stomach (Josie’s actions, the science stuff, and the insta-love). I’ll definitely keep checking out Gretchen McNeil’s other new books when she writes them. :DKelly recently posted…Banned Books Week Giveaway Hop

Hmmm. This one sounds really good, but now I’m not sure if I want to read it after your review haha. Some of my Goodreads friends liked it a little bit more. I’ve never read a book by her before, but I don’t think I’m interested in either Ten or Possess, just because of what I’ve heard of them. Maybe I’ll give this one a try, though.Miranda @ Tempest Books recently posted…Waiting On Wednesday (#1)

3:59 sounded amazing at first, but now… I’m not too sure. The parallel universe and doppelgängers sounded so interesting at first, but I really don’t think I’d be able to stand Madison as I couldn’t stand Minnie, and the insta-love. Especially the worst insta-love ever. Eek. Plus, I really don’t think I’d be able to keep up with Josie and her science smarts :/ I’m glad you did enjoy 3:59, if not as much as Ten. Great review, Kelly :)Chri @ Fathomless recently posted…Prep School Confidential, Kara Taylor

Thank goodness I’m not the only one who hated Minnie with a passion in Ten. I couldn’t STAND her.
As for Madison, I think she’s more awful than Minnie because of what she did to Josie, her “best friend,” but the good part is that that Madison only appeared in the beginning of the book. (I say “that” because Josie also meets the parallel universe Madison.)
The insta-love was horrible. It’s just so unhealthy – you just don’t know if Josie is confusing her feelings for the new Nick with her lingering feelings for the old Nick. Just thinking of that insta-love makes me cringe. :l
The paragraphs with all the science talk just confused me (like I said, what on Earth is a “ultradense deuterium”?), so I just speed read over those parts.
Thank you Chri! :DKelly recently posted…Banned Books Week Giveaway Hop

Ohh noo! I skimmed your review and just read the last little end of it because I plan on read this soon (I just got it in the mail after pre-ordering). That totally sucks that it’s more high school drama. I hate when books with cool premises turn into classroom meltdowns.Becca @ Nawanda Files recently posted…Book Mash [16]

Eep, I hope you’ll enjoy this book more than I did Becca! Who knows, maybe 3:59 would be a better read for you and maybe you won’t be annoyed at all the drama happening in the book.Kelly recently posted…Banned Books Week Giveaway Hop

Ha ha, just stay away from people while reading it! 3:59 made me so angry that I would have screamed at everyone and anyone if I didn’t have a notebook to rant in. :P
I hope you’ll enjoy this one Susan! (:Kelly recently posted…Banned Books Week Giveaway Hop

I take it as you don’t really like drama books Rachel? 3:59 was full of drama left and right, so it might not be your taste if you don’t like books with drama in it.
Thanks! (:Kelly recently posted…Teen Thrill Book Signing

I’m still interested in giving it a try :) To be fair some of the smartest people may not have real world or street smarts lol. Insta love is kinda annoying, but it seems like it is difficult for authors to draw it out .Ashleigh Swerdfeger recently posted…Banned Book Week 2013

That’s true, but still, I still expect them to. I mean, otherwise, how will they live if they don’t know how to survive? :P
Yeah, I was thinking about that today. Books without insta-love are hard to write because you don’t how much time is enough time, but on the other hand, why not make them slowly fall for each other with each book? If it’s a standalone, why not leave it as they’re dating without any “I love yous,” but “I strongly like yous”?Kelly recently posted…First Year Blogoversary + Three Giveaways!

Cool review. :) I saw a lot of hype for this book. Bloggers were even wearing t-shirt with the tile on it. I think I would give the book a chance, but I don’t think it would be a book that I would love.

I liked Ten a lot. But I am not so sure about this book. It sounds good, but I have heard some things that have convinced me I might not enjoy it very much. While I like being angry at a book and its characters, I need to be angry because that was the intent, not because I am angry because of stupidity. I just don’t know what to think about this one. Maybe one day!

I liked Ten a lot too! 3:59, however, I didn’t like that much. :l
I’ve never read any books where the authors’ intentions were to make us hate the characters – with the exception of Throne of Glass, kind of.
Maybe one day. That’ll be my new favorite sentence. :D<3Kelly recently posted…Stacking the Shelves [52]

i like story about doppelgängers ….jossie wants a perfect life but jo is a fake…she wants jossie lifw..
i must read this book…i want to know the ending..
i hope it has happy ending…\
thx u for ur review :)

I was looking forward to this book because the idea of parallel universes and our “twins” being their living different lives is so fascinating to me! I was disappointed to read from your review that this cool story idea gets lost with not so interesting stuff like high school drama! I’m not a fan of “insta-love” either so that’s another bummer! Oh well. I may still read this anyway but it goes lower on my TBR pile now! Thanks for your comments!

There sadly was a ton of drama – romance drama to be specific – in this one added to the whole parallel universe thing.
I’m not a fan of insta-love either, especially this one. I still cringe a little when I think about it.
I hope you’ll like this one better than I did Suz when you finally get to it! At least you’ll be more prepared for it now! (:Kelly recently posted…Stacking the Shelves [52]

Oh my gawd! I won this book and now I have to wait a few weeks to get it in the mail and read it. I cannot absolutely wait! I’ve heard so many good things and you’re review only helped convince me of how much I would love it! :D

I didn’t really like this book. I could understand practically nothing of the whole physics talk. At least I know what a doppelganger is… Anyway, this book failed to impress me.Alessandra recently posted…Book blitz: Dragonfly & Undertow by Leigh T. Moore

Agreed! I didn’t get any of the science stuff (I thought it was chemistry, but yeah, now that you pointed it out, it involves both chemistry and physics) and that really dragged the book for me. I’m glad I’m not the only one who felt this way about the whole science talk.Kelly recently posted…Stacking the Shelves [52]

I recently won this book and I’m excited to read it. Your review does make me a tad nervous though, but I will still go in open minded. I don’t read a lot of thrillers so this will be a little new for me. If I don’t enjoy this one I will have to try out Ten since you did love that one.Crystal @ Crystal in Bookland recently posted…Iron Pendulum by Megan Curd COVER REVEAL

Grats on winning a copy of 3:59 Crystal! :D<3
And who knows, maybe you'll like this one a lot better than I did. You'll never know. ;D
You should read Ten either way, it's amazing! :DKelly recently posted…Stacking the Shelves [57]

Nooo! I’ve been pining for this book ever since I read the synopsis coupled with seeing the cover. I hate that it’s ruined by high schoolish drama. And I am absolutely not a fan of insta-love… it bothers me to no end. Thanks for your honest opinion though!

Great review! I recently picked up with book, but I haven’t read many reviews about it and it sounded really interesting! Glad to hear you enjoyed it! I’ll have to check out Ten also!Brianna’s Bookish Confessions recently posted…Bout of Books 9.0

[…] series was full of insta-love and another similar fantasy book about parallel universes, 3:59 by Gretchen McNeil, was also full of insta-love, so naturally, I expected Trial By Fire to have insta-love too. […]

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Effortlessly Reading sometimes receives ARCs (Advance Reader Copies) from publishers or authors in exchange for honest reviews. Please note that no compensation of any kind has been provided in exchange for a review. Any use and/or duplication of my material without any permission is strictly prohibited.